Memory's Maidens Wiki
Important Note: We play twice a week, from 3:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. (EST), on Wednesdays and Fridays (also EST). Characters *Agata Tatlin, Well-Connected Mafiya Princess, played by Colette *Sasha Kuznetsov, Hero of the Age, played by BLloyd *Sergei Volkov, Powerful Runaway, played by Dogii Kruger *Celino Castanea, Winter-Bound Martyr, played by Callidon Current Power Level: Base Refresh Rate 8, Skill Point Total 33 Former Characters *Nina Dolohov, Chosen of the Blossom Rod, played by Alderanos/Tharkanos Miscellany *Locations: Important locations, whether due to plot or due to connections to the characters. >implying that the locations page matters *Themes and Threats: The over-arching themes and threats of the city of Moscow. >implying that we use city themes or aspects *NPCs: Important NPCs. >implying that we ever use these statistics or aspects for our NPCs, or that they are in any way accurate or up-to-date, especially ever since Agata's family was revealed to contain a changeling and two altered humans Main Session Logs Colette's Note: I have removed any lines or portions of lines that were rendered obsolete or invalid (such as lines typed out due to miscommunications or lines made invalid by future lines), I have altered our IRC usernames to our characters' names for the sake of uniformity, I have removed any flow-breaking username changes and quit messages, and I have applied any corrections to typographical errors I can find. Other than these corrections, these logs are raw and unedited. Hence, these logs are extremely messy during party split scenes. By the Score, these logs are incomplete. I profusely apologize; I promise to have them completed by the end of May. *Session 1: Session 1 OOC, Session 1 IC *Session 2: *Session 3: *Session 4: *Session 5 (Half-Session): Session 5 OOC, Session 5 IC *Session 6 (Half-Session): Session 6 OOC, Session 6 IC *Session 7: Session 7 OOC, Session 7 IC *Session 8: Session 8 OOC, Session 8 IC *Session 9 (Half-Session): Session 9 OOC, Session 9 IC *Session 10: Session 10 OOC, Session 10 IC *Session 11: Session 11 OOC, Session 11 IC *Session 12: Session 12 OOC, Session 12 IC *Session 13: Session 13 OOC, Session 13 IC *Session 14: Session 14 OOC, Session 14 IC *Session 15: Session 15 OOC, Session 15 IC *Session 16 (Half-Session): Session 16 OOC, Session 16 IC *Session 17 (Half-Session): Session 17 OOC, Session 17 IC *Session 18 (Half-Session): Session 18 OOC, Session 18 IC *Session 19: Session 19 OOC, Session 19 IC *Session 20: Session 20 OOC, Session 20 IC *Session 21: Session 21 OOC, Session 21 IC *Session 22 (Half-Session): Session 22 OOC, Session 22 IC *Session 23: Session 23 OOC, Session 23 IC *Session 24: Session 24 OOC, Session 24 IC *Session 25 (IN WHICH FLORIAN RETURNS AGATA'S FEELINGS): Session 25 OOC, Session 25 IC *Session 26: Session 26 OOC, Session 26 IC *Session 27 (Half-Session): Session 27 OOC, Session 27 IC *Session 28: Session 28 OOC, Session 28 IC *Session 28 Side Scene (Happy Catboy Funtime Original): Session 28 Side Scene Original IC *Session 28 Side Scene (Happy Catboy Funtime Retcon): Session 28 Side Scene Retcon IC *Session 29: Session 29 OOC, Session 29 IC *Session 30: Session 30 OOC, Session 30 IC *Session 31: Session 31 OOC, Session 31 IC *Session 32 (The Meeting): Session 31 OOC, Session 31 IC *Session 33 (Half-Session): Session 33 OOC, Session 33 IC Side Scene Logs *Agata Side Scene 1, Original (chronologically takes place during Session 28): Agata Side Scene 1 Original IC *Agata Side Scene 1, Original (chronologically takes place during Session 28): Agata Side Scene 1 Retcon IC *Agata Side Scene 2 (chronologically takes place during Sessions 30 and 31): Side Scene 2 IC *Agata Side Scene 3 (chronologically takes place during Sessions 33): Side Scene 3 IC Miscellaneous Fixes *Template: Pure Mortal: The bonus to refresh rate that a pure mortal gains is scaled up to +3 at refresh rate 8, +4 at refresh rate 10, +5 at refresh rate 12, and so on. *Skill: Burglary: This is skill no longer exists. The Casing and Infiltration trappings are given to Investigation, and the Lockpicking trapping is given to Craftsmanship. *Skill: Craftsmanship: This skill gains the Lockpicking trapping from Burglary. *Skill: Empathy: The Social Initiative trapping is removed from the game, due to the removal of social conflicts. The A Shoulder to Cry On trapping is revised as follows: If you have Empathy +2 (or Empathy +0 and an appropriate tagged or invoked aspect), you can spend a scene comforting someone with a mild mental consequence to justify the beginning of the recovery process for that consequence. Empathy +4 (or Empathy +2 and an appropriate tagged or invoked aspect) allows you to do the same for a moderate mental consequence, and Empathy +6 (or Empathy +4 and an appropriate tagged or invoked aspect) can cover a severe mental consequence. If you do not meet the appropriate Empathy ratings, you can roll against a difficulty of +2 for an attempt against a mild consequence, +4 for a moderate consequence, or +6 for a severe consequence. A character can only ever receive one such Empathy roll per Empathy-user against a specific consequence, and Empathy-users must all make their rolls separately rather than using teamwork maneuvers. *Skill: Investigation: This skill gains the Casing and Infiltration trappings from the now-obsolete Burglary. *Skill: Presence: This skill no longer exists. The Charisma and Reputation trappings are removed from the game entirely; nobody is ever going to bother rolling for passive charisma or "the strength of your reputation." The Social Fortitude trapping is likewise obsoleted, due to the removal of social conflicts. The Leadership trapping is spread out across every skill, using whatever skill the leader is attempting to coordinate her followers for; Craftsmanship for construction workers, Guns for a firing squad, Lore for a circle of cultists, Weaponry for a group of foot soldiers, and so on. *Skill: Resources: The Workspaces trapping no longer exists. Craftsmanship, Lore, and Scholarship rolls made in a workspace have no roll limit; common sense is applied as to whether or not a given workspace is valid for a given task. *Stunts: Due to some of the changes above, the following stunts are now of little to no use, and should be removed from the game: Arson (Burglary), Cat-Burglar (Burglary), Hacker (Burglary), Keep Your Eyes Open (Burglary), The Big Picture (Burglary), Person of Conviction (Conviction), Tower of Faith (Conviction), Unshakeable (Discipline), Counselor (Empathy), The Social Graces (Empathy), Rule with Fear (Intimidation), Leadership (Presence), Personal Magnetism (Presence), Teflon Persona (Presence), The Weight of Reputation (Presence). *Social Conflicts: Social conflicts and social stress are gone from the game entirely. We never use them, and they are only ever balanced and believable for one-on-one social duels. Social skills can maneuver, but never directly attack the now-nonexistent social stress track. Under the default social conflict rules, there is no mechanical difference between an argument over where to eat lunch or an argument to sell the family's lucrative business. Really. *Consequential Contests: Consequential contests are likewise removed from the game in their entirety, as they are too swingy and impose too harsh a punishment for a single roll. They are seldom referenced within the rules, and so taking them away should not affect much. There is one exception: the Addictive Saliva -1 power still makes use of the consequential contests rule, as a mental maneuver made against Discipline. *Assessments, Declarations, Maneuvers, and First Impressions: Whenever you make an assessment, a declaration, a maneuver, or, using the Rapport skill, a first impression aspect, if you beat the difficulty by 5 or more shifts, you reveal or create two aspects rather than only one. *Full Defense: So as to make the full defense action more useful, it is revised as follows: As a standard action, you can take a full defense action to gain a +2 bonus to all rolls made to defend against attacks and maneuvers until the end of your next turn. You can also choose to forgo rolling for defense and accept an automatic result of +0 on the dice rolls for any resistance. You can still take a supplemental action during the same turn. *Grappling: For the purpose of establishing the block strength of a grapple, the natural roll result of any grapple attempt is always equal to +0; in other words, the block strength is almost always equal to the grappler's Might, although fate points can be spent to improve this "roll." Grappling applies against all actions, without any exceptions, if only due to the sheer distraction value of having an enemy up close and in one's face. However, grappling is especially effective against and weak against certain types of actions. **Especially Effective Against: +1 to effective block strength. Evocations (whether or not a focus item is being used), any roll made to use a firearm, or any roll made to use a weapon larger than a Bowie knife. **Weak Against: -1 to effective block strength. Social skills, knowledge skills, perception skills, and any Athletics roll made to wriggle free and sprint away (grapples are weak against this because, unlike most other options, it involves making a concerted effort to actually escape the grapple). Fixes for Spellcasting *Maximum Shifts: The maximum number of shifts a you can ever call up into an evocation spell is equal to your Conviction + 3. *Warming Up: In order to call up more shifts than your Conviction into a spell, you must have successfully cast, in the previous exchange, a spell with shifts equal to or less than your Conviction and that did not cause backlash or fallout. *Backlash: Backlash for both evocation and thaumaturgy always causes mental stress, not physical stress. In addition, the stress hit incurred by evocation backlash is equal to 1 + the number of shifts called up into the spell - the effective Discipline roll made for control. *Rote Spells: Rote spells are subject to two limitations. Firstly, you can only ever have one rote that calls up more shifts than your Conviction. Secondly, you can only ever have one maneuver-type spell as a rote spell. *Mental Attack Spells: Mental attack spells are subject to five limitations. Firstly, the maximum number of shifts you can ever call up into such a spell is equal to your Conviction. Secondly, the spell can only ever have one target, so it cannot be made into a spray or area spell. Thirdly, the spell must always target Discipline. Fourthly, the spell must always come with visual or auditory qualities that conspicuously identify it as magic to any observers and to any target who fully resists the spell (a target who fails to resist does not necessarily identify the magic). Fifthly, for the spell to not break any of the Laws of Magic, it must be either a sleep spell or very minor and short-term mesmerism. *Debuffing Maneuver Spell Duration: Just as the example evocation spells in Your Story appear to imply, it costs only 1 shift to cause a debuffing maneuver-type spell to produce a sticky aspect against an enemy. The result of your control roll (or your "control roll" for a rote spell) is resisted by an appropriate skill roll from the target to resist the maneuver. If your result is equal to or higher than the target's result, the aspect lasts until the end of the scene without any option to remove it prematurely. As per the house rules above, if you produce 5 shifts on the maneuver roll, you place two aspects rather than just one, both of which can be tagged. *Specializations: Specializations no longer exist, and are no longer granted by the Evocation, Thaumaturgy, Channeling, Ritual, or Sponsored Magic. Evocation and thaumaturgy effects are already obliteratingly powerful, even from a complete baseline, so think twice before you believe that this underpowers spellcasters in any way, shape, or form. *Focus Items: Focus items are hyper-simplified and hyper-rebalanced into two types: evocation focus items and thaumaturgy items. (Crafting specializations no longer exist.) An evocation focus item must be at least the size of a small rod or wand, and grants its bonus to Discipline for controlling any evocation spell, to a maximum of +2. A thaumaturgy focus must likewise be the size of a small rod or wand, and grants its bonus to Lore for determining complexity for any thaumaturgy spell, to a maximum of +6. Lore no longer factors into focus items or their bonuses in any way. *Sponsored Magic: Sponsored Magic comes with a free +2 evocation "focus" and a free +2 thaumaturgy "focus." These focus items are considered to be inherent talent that is always with the character, rather than physical focus items. If you gain any additional focus item slots, these can improve the bonus of the thaumaturgy "focus," up to the usual maximum of +6. *Kemmlerian Necromancy: This is no longer a form of Sponsored Magic. You truly do not have to spend -2 refresh just to be able to justify necromancy, even of the Kemmlerian style. Proposed New Powers and Fixes for Various Powers *General Fixes: The Wings -1 power is undercosted, so its price increases to -2. The Hulking Size -2 power is overcosted, so its price is reduced to -1. Beast Change -3 Description: You are able to take the form of a beast, rearranging the priorities of your skill list. Musts: You must define the type of beast that you change into. You can only ever have one appearance while in beast form. You must also create an alternate skill configuration for your beast form, using your own number of skill points and following the same skill pyramid rules. You cannot change your Conviction, Disicpline, or Endurance for this new pyramid; nor can you change any other skills that determine one of your stress tracks; nor can you increase Contacts, Craftsmanship, Deceit, Driving, Empathy, Lore, Rapport, Resources, Scholarship, or Weapons for your beast form skill configuration (decreasing them is possible, and is, in fact, recommended). Skills Affected: Many. Effects: Beast Form. As a free action that can be taken at any point in the initiative order, you take on the shape and appearance of the beast you specified at the time you took this ability, or switch back to your original form. The action required increases to supplemental if you have the Human Form power, but it can still be taken at any point in the initiative order. This only covers a cosmetic change of form and does not convey additional abiilities like Claws or any Speed, Strength, or Toughness powers. Any clothing, items, and equipment on your person melds into your new form, making this power ideal for smuggling items. Anyone who sees you can passively make an Empathy, Lore, or Survival roll with a difficulty of Legendary (+8) to discern you to be something other than you appear, and with 3 shifts, the target can perceive your original form overlaid over your beast form for the rest of the scene. Ambush Immunity. Your bestial senses prevent you from ever being ambushed. You are always treated as having beaten the Stealth roll of anyone attempting to ambush you. Skill Shuffle. While in beast form, your skill configuration changes to the pyramid that you had defined when you had first taken this power, potentially allowing you to significantly skills such as physical skills and perception skills. When you do so during a conflict, your initiative immediately adjusts to compensate for your new skills. Glamours -2 Description: You can create minor veils and "seemings" that conceal something from sight or make something look like what it is not. This power is most associated with pure fae and the changelings who descend from them, although it is by no means unheard of for other supernatural creatures or spellcasters to produce similar illusory effects. Effects: Minor Veils. As a standard action, you can draw a veil over something (not particularly large, perhaps the size of a small, tight group of people, or a small automobile) within your line of sight, hiding it from sight and other means of detection. A veil lasts until you dismiss it as a free action, but you can have only one veil active at a time, although a veil affecting only yourself does not count against this restriction. Seemings. As a supplemental action, you can cause an object or person within your line of sight to appear to be something other than what it is. A seeming lasts until you dismiss it as a free action, but you can have only one seeming active at a time, although a seeming affecting only yourself does not count against this restriction. Veil and Seeming Detection. Once per scene per character, a character in the vicinity any veils or seemings can passively make an Alertness, Investigation, or Lore roll against them, with a difficulty of Fantastic (+6). On a success, for the rest of the scene, that character can cumulatively: (0 shifts) sense the presence and location of any veils or seemings created with Glamours power, (2 shifts) sense the presence of any veils or seemings created with the Greater Glamours power, (3 shifts) see through any veils or seemings created with the Glamours power, (5 shifts) see through any veils or seemings created with the Greater Glamours power. Greater Glamours -4 Description: You can create powerful veils and "seemings" that conceal something from sight or make something look like what it is not, and even create "seemings," solid illusions of pure ectoplasm (or, in some cases, more exotic substances such as congealed light) and almost impossible to discern as abnormal. This is a very rare power, associated mainly with the nobles of Faerie (i.e. sidhe fae), although fae and changelings of lesser stature, along with other fringe cases of the magical world, can sometimes weave illusions of similar potency. Musts: You cannot have the Glamours power, as this is a greater replacement for that power. Effects: Greater Veils. As a standard action, you can draw a veil over something (not particularly large, perhaps the size of a small, tight group of people, or a small automobile) within your line of sight, hiding it from sight and other means of detection. By spending a fate point or taking a mild mental consequence, you can extend a veil over an entire zone. A veil lasts until you dismiss it as a free action, but you can have only one veil active at a time, although a veil affecting only yourself does not count against this restriction. Seemings. As a supplemental action, you can cause an object or person within your line of sight to appear to be something other than what it is. A seeming lasts until you dismiss it as a free action, but you can have only one seeming active at a time, although a seeming affecting only yourself does not count against this restriction. True Seemings. As a supplemental action, you can create an object as large as a small automobile out of pure ectoplasm (or, if your aspects allow for it, something more exotic, such as congealed light). This object appears in your zone, either in your hand or on the ground. An object created this way is not casually detectable as "unreal," so save through deliberate, lengthy examination, it is immune to most efforts to discover the true seeming. As far as the effects of the object are concerned, simply give it the same attributes as a fully real object of its type would have. A true seeming lasts until you dismiss it as a free action, but you can have only one true seeming in existence at a time. Veil and Seeming Detection. Once per scene per character, a character in the vicinity any veils or seemings can passively make an Alertness, Investigation, or Lore roll against them, with a difficulty of Fantastic (+6). On a success, for the rest of the scene, that character can cumulatively: (0 shifts) sense the presence and location of any veils or seemings created with Glamours power, (2 shifts) sense the presence of any veils or seemings created with the Greater Glamours power, (3 shifts) see through any veils or seemings created with the Glamours power, (5 shifts) see through any veils or seemings created with the Greater Glamours power. Fixes For Toughness Powers Toughness powers have a major design flaw in them: they are not balanced against attackers with a mix of Catch-fulfilling and non-Catch-fulfilling attacks, such as the typical player character party. Attacks that do not meet a Toughness power's Catch can hit virtual stress boxes that, to Catch-fulfillers, do not exist. Therefore, ofttimes, a Catch-fulfiller would prefer to be supported by allies with weaker attacks that deal 3 or 4 stress, than allies who deal attacks that deal 5 or 6 stress. This does not make sense. Fortunately, this issue can be repaired as follows: Extra stress boxes from Toughness powers are added to the left of the physical stress track, not the right. All Armor ratings remain the same. The system for determining the discount for a Catch is very poorly thought-out, and the discount values are all but impossible to apply in good faith in this game. Consequently, any given Catch discount is handled on a case by case basis. For example: *The Catch: Non-Solid Attacks +3: Any attack that is not purely solid satisfies this Catch. This includes bolts of fire, blades of wind, shockwaves, necrotic energy, spirit claws, poisonous gas, and so on. This Catch cannot be attached to only Inhuman Toughness or only Inhuman Recovery. *The Catch: Cold Iron +2: A slashing or piercing weapon constructed of iron or steel satisfies this Catch. Any other ferrous metals, along with stainless steel, do not satisfy this Catch, so there fae with steak knives and kitchen knives is ineffective. The weapon must actually slash or stab, and bludgeoning attacks never count, and so iron pipes are not ideal. Furthermore, fae and changelings only encounter pain and irritation with an iron or steel slashing or piercing weapon if their skin touches a sharp edge or point, even very lightly. That is, touching the flat of a steel sword will cause no irritation, but there will be agony if the blade is half-sworded while bare-handed, even if it does not actually break the skin. This Catch cannot be attached to only Inhuman Toughness or only Inhuman Recovery. *The Catch: Soft Things +1: Weapons augmented by silks and other extremely soft materials satisfy this Catch, as long as the silk is reasonably attached to the weapon and the silk makes contact immediately before the weapon hits. Tying a silk ribbon to the target causes all physical attacks to satisfy this Catch. Simplified Rules for Thresholds Any given threshold has a rating from Fair (+2) to Legendary (+8). A threshold applies its rating - 2 as a penalty to all attack rolls, maneuver rolls, and supernatural power rolls made by supernatural creatures that have violated the threshold. This penalty increases to the threshold's rating - 1 for defense rolls. Creatures that have spent only -2 refresh rate on supernatural powers reduce all penalties by 1; -1 reduces all penalties by 2; and -0 (Cassandra's Tears or Wizard's Constitution, for example) reduces all penalties by 3. In addition, a threshold imposes (double its rating) - 3 as a penalty to all supernatural power rolls that originate outside of the threshold and cross its boundaries. For example: *Fair (+2) Threshold: -1 penalty to defense rolls. No penalties whatsoever for supernatural creatures with only -2, -1, or -0 refresh rate spent on supernatural powers. -1 penalty to all supernatural power rolls that originate from outside of the threshold and cross its boundaries. *Good (+3) Threshold: -1 penalty to all attack rolls, maneuver rolls, and supernatural power rolls; increases to -2 for defense rolls. -1 penalty to defense rolls for supernatural creatures with only -2 refresh rate spent on supernatural powers. No penalties whatsoever for supernatural creatures with only -1 or -0 refresh rate spent on supernatural powers. -3 penalty to all supernatural power rolls that originate from outside of the threshold and cross its boundaries. *Great (+4) Threshold: -2 penalty to all attack rolls, maneuver rolls, and supernatural power rolls; increasees to -3 for defense rolls. -1 penalty to all attack rolls, maneuver rolls, and supernatural power rolls; increases to -2 for defense rolls for supernatural creatures with only -2 refresh rate spent on supernatural powers. -1 penalty to defense rolls for supernatural creatures with only -1 refresh rate spent on supernatural powers. No penalties whatsoever for supernatural creatures with only -0 refresh rate spent on supernatural powers. -5 penalty to all supernatural power rolls that originate from outside of the threshold and cross its boundaries. A very modest source of running water, such as a one-yard-wide natural stream, has a base strength of Fair (+2). Sanctified or consecrated grounds (such as places of worship) are an exception to this, carrying a base threshold strength of Good (+3) even if they are used by the public, because of the energies of faith that are directed into them. A home with a shaky and/or incomplete family lives has a base strength of Good (+3). A home where a whole family lives has a base strength of Great (+4), and increases by 1 for each full generation that the same family has lived in the house.